On July 6, Madhvi Chittoor was presented with a rollerball. To the 10-year-old environmentalist, it was more than just a writing implement. It was a testament to her first major legislative achievement against plastic pollution. The pen belonged to Colorado Governor Jared Polis who signed with it a bill interdicting single-use plastic bags and Styrofoam containers in the U.S. state, something she had been advocating since 2018.

"Yay!! Finally my work as NoStyrofoamNinja is creating impact," she exulted while speaking with CGTN Digital, adding "The bill, first introduced in January 2020, got delayed due to COVID, but I kept making calls to the state representatives and senators and finally it was tabled again in February this year."

Madhvi, who gave at least five testimonies before several state committees in favor of the bill between February and June, explained it applies to schools, supermarkets, grocery and convenience stores, pharmacies and other retailers, though the purveyors are permitted to use up their inventory by June 1, 2024.

The legislation was approved by the state's House and the Senate on June 8.

In March this year the fifth-grader anti-plastic crusader became the youngest climate adviser to the Biden-Harris team when her Global Plastic Policy proposal was supported by the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. "I am working really hard with the VP policy staff on the Global Plastic Policy to take shape before the Glasgow Summit in November," she told CGTN Digital.

The Global Plastic Policy calls for a Paris Agreement-like framework to tackle plastic pollution. The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) will be held in Glasgow, UK, from November 1 to 12.

"In September 2020, I had several rounds of discussions with the offices of then-Senator Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Select Committee on Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor on ramping up efforts to reduce carbon emissions," Madhvi added.

It was a rainy Sunday morning of 2017 when an environmental documentary kindled the flames of activism in the then five-year-old Madhvi, awakening her to the bitter reality of a planet being insidiously poisoned by its inhabitants. "I couldn't eat anything for many days," she harked back. 

As her creative side evolved wings, she completed her first book "Is Plastic My Food?" in a space of two months, highlighting the horrors of climate change through the story of an albatross. Her book received a letter of recognition from National Geographic.

Along with her mother Lalithaa, Madhvi became a weekend regular at malls, open markets and cinema halls in Arvada, Colorado, distributing paper straws to create awareness among residents about plastic menace.

In 2018, she wrote an open letter to her school superintendent, imploring public school canteens switch from Styrofoam lunch plates to bagasse compostable containers. A committee was formed, and her suggestions were implemented, rendering 155 schools, with 86,000 students, Styrofoam-free. The move swept up an estimated 7.6 million Styrofoam plates from local landfills yearly. 

Correspondingly, she worked with U.S. Congressman Ed Perlmutter of Arvada, and the then-Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper in declaring April as a plastic-free month. In the ensuing years, she launched signature campaigns and organized rallies outside the state legislature and the Capitol demanding bans on single-use plastic and Styrofoam.

As the November deadline approaches, the full-time elementary schooler hopes a global plastic policy can facilitate the endeavors to repair the cruel blows of climate change.